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Two foreign schools inch closer to accreditation

Two veterinary colleges up for review in 2008 by the AVMA Council on Education saw different outcomes, while two foreign colleges came one step closer to accreditation.

The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine was granted limited accreditation for two years. Meanwhile, Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences was granted full accreditation for seven years. The two colleges were fully accredited prior to the evaluations. Their last reviews were in 2001.

A college may be granted full accreditation for up to seven years if it is in full compliance with all 11 accreditation standards or is in substantial compliance with only one or two standards. Substantial compliance indicates student outcomes are only minimally affected by the specific deficiencies identified. A college may be placed on limited accreditation when deficiencies are identified in one or more of the standards that affect student outcomes or safety. Schools placed on limited accreditation have 30 days to appeal after being notified of the council's decision.

In other COE news, members received the biannual report of the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Recognizing admittance of its first class in September 2008, the faculty was granted provisional accreditation for a five-year period and will move forward with a required comprehensive site visit this fall. The faculty already had been granted a letter of reasonable assurance by the COE earlier this year, which signifies the council is likely to accredit the veterinary college if it continues to demonstrate that its plans will meet or exceed the council's "Standard Requirements for an Accredited or Approved College of Veterinary Medicine."

In addition, the council granted a request from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia for a comprehensive site visit in 2009 to the Mexico City campus, which is one more step in the accreditation process. AVMA officials first visited the site informally in March 2001, though discussions with the school originated years before.

In spring 2006, the COE made a consultative visit. From there it laid out recommendations for UNAM to implement to be accredited. The council has now determined the college has addressed enough of the issues brought up from the previous visit to warrant a site visit.

At present, 42 colleges are in various stages of accreditation by the COE. Of the 28 U.S. colleges, 25 are on full accreditation, and three are on limited accreditation. Four Canadian colleges are on full accreditation, and one is on provisional accreditation, and nine foreign colleges are on full accreditation.